Christmas Weekend – Part 1 – London & Stonehenge

It was like walking into the set of the TV show “Walking Dead”. London Central was like a ghost town on Christmas morning. We didn’t see anyone in our hotel lobby. The street outside our hotel was empty and most shops (including Starbucks, McDonalds) were closed on Christmas Day. Even the subway and public bus were closed. Litters and dried leaves flying around. Traffic lights were blinking purposelessly. It was so different from the usual London I knew.

We were staving for food. I had only a tiny pack of peanuts in my pocket and I rationed the portion evenly amongst us. Like hungry zombies, we walked for an hour along Thames River, hoping to find some food. When we saw a passerby with a cup of hot coffee in his hand, we were thrilled! Food, I yelled! You can imagine how “desperate” we were. Nope, we didn’t rob him. We figured his route and it led us to a cafe near Tower Bridge. There, we had our mini Christmas Lunch! And we filled ourselves with so much food! It was the most satisfying lunch I had! I guess it was the fear of not able to find food made us appreciate that meal.

With our stomachs filled, we brought Tracy and Harshad to conquer the standard list of landmarks– Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, Regent Street, Oxford Street, Hyde Park and the list goes on. There, we saw many other tourists and cafés super-packed with hungry crowd. Finally, there was some Christmas atmosphere in the city.

Later that evening, we repeated our food-hunting ritual. Along the way, we were so bored that we attempted our own “ghost photography”. We walked for a very long distant before we found a decent Italian pizza joint. But the staff told us that the restaurant was closing. At 6pm, that was early! The owner explained she sold out everything. I figured why. Darn, we walked on and found a small steakhouse along Regent Street. It was packed with people. Thank goodness, they had enough food and seats for us. We had our little Christmas Dinner there. The food wasn’t delicious at all but it filled our empty stomachs. We were so tired due to the endless walking and food hunting. We decided to head back to our hotel after the dinner for our Christmas gift-exchanges. That brighten up my boy’s gloomy and tired face!

The next day, we took a morning tour to visit the mystical Stonehenge. It was a 2-hour bus ride from London Central to the Stonehenge. Along the way, we saw hundreds of Boxing Day shoppers (mostly Asians) queuing outside branded stores. What a big contrast from Christmas Day. The streets were filled with so many people! Many of them had queued the night before. Tired, restless, aggressive and hungry looking, these zombie-like shoppers were waiting for the big hunt. There was no jolliness in their expression. It was a good idea that we left the city.

Finally, we arrived in the middle of nowhere. It looked like a farm, I thought. To some, Stonehenge is nothing but a pile of well-stacked stones in an uncanny formation. For me, it is getting a tick in my “places-I-must-visit-before-I-die” checklist. I have seen the Stonehenge many times in TV documentaries and photo books, I am just curious to see them in real life. The story of Stonehenge is just so intriguing and well written that it continues to draw millions to its site every year. Not bad for a broken down solar temple.

I was a little worried when I saw busloads of tourists alighting at the Stonehenge Visitor Center. I was concerned about the quality of my photo shoots. I hate the feelings of not able to capture the Stonehenge in full view. These crowds are going to block and pollute my shoot, I thought.

Thankfully, the Stonehenge Visitor Center set up a 360-circumference-barrier to keep onlookers from going too close and blocking the ancient structures. The position of this barrier was very well spaced and placed so that every one can take a good photo of the entire Stonehenge without anyone blocking the camera’s view. That is very thoughtful. However, it also means we cannot walk inside the Stonehenge. I guess with crowds like this, this is a better option for everyone. It is more of a “sight” than an experience.

It was surprisingly sunny yesterday and I was lucky to capture the Stonehenge under a clear blue sky setting. It was picture perfect for me. And most importantly, I was far far away from the Boxing Day craze.

Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 5 – Christmas Eve, Stockholm

Our 9-day Sweden adventure was coming to an end. On our last day in Stockholm, I got all of us an unusual and special accommodation – on a boat hotel, Rygerfjord. We had a very big 6-bedder cabin at the lower deck of the boat with our own private shower rooms and toilet.

It was another “first-in-life” experience for all of us. Tracy was dumbfounded when she first saw the dark, narrow, small and steep metal ladders to our cabin and she yelled, “where is our hotel room?” Elkan was thrilled with his new imaginative world. It was like living on a battleship with all the ladders and portholes. It wasn’t too fun for Harshad as he had difficulty manoeuvring in the small tight toilet. For me, I had a backbreaking time trying to move our trolleys up and down the narrow ladders.

We spent a quiet Christmas Eve in Stockholm. The sky was grey and it was drizzling the whole day. The streets were exceptionally quiet and many shops were closing early. Many people were down at the shopping malls grabbing their last-minute Christmas gifts. It can be quite a lonely place if you are alone. Everyone’s running home for his or her Christmas Eve dinner.

We spent our day shopping and dining at Stockholm Central. Thanks to Scott’s brother-in-law, Kace, he recommended a very famous and good fish-&-chips restaurant (Lisa Elmqvist) at Saluhall not far away from our boat. It was very crowded with locals and it was worth the effort to come all the way here for the fish! Simply fresh and tasty! One of the best I had so far!

By nightfall, we returned to our boat hotel to pick up our luggage bags. There, we had our little Christmas Eve dinner before we headed off to the airport. The weather wasn’t looking very good. Friends from Singapore and Hong Kong sent travel warnings and regards to me. A big storm was brewing in London tonight. Next stop: Christmas Weekend in United Kingdom – London and Edinburgh!

Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 4 – Kiruna, The Ice Hotel

Kiruna is a mining town 1 hour south of Abisko. Here, you find the world’s largest underground iron mine. However, it isn’t the mine that brought us here. Kiruna is home to one of the world’s famous and most original attractions, The Ice Hotel. We decided to stop by for a day to visit the hotel.

Originally, I wanted to put all of us in the Ice Hotel. The original ice room was fully booked out and the warm “wooden” cabins cost USD450/pax! It was just way too expensive for us. However, the hotel staff was kind enough and told me that I can visit the ice rooms for a small entry fee.

When we arrived at Kiruna, it seemed like a white ghost town. There are only 18,000 people living and working here. We stayed in a small hotel at the town center, Bishops and Arms Hotel.

Strange but true – the first human being I spotted was a young lady from Singapore. She was chatting with my taxi driver to help her to call another cab for her entourage. This is what I love about the Singapore accent. It helps us to identify and connect with one another. I immediately approached her and offered our taxi but she has a big group. It was so good to bump into another Singaporean out here in the northern county of Sweden. There is never a trip when I don’t bump into Singaporeans. We are everywhere, at any time!

By 4pm, all the shops closed and there was no one or car on the street. We were the only ones wandering on the streets. Being too long in Hong Kong, I found it difficult to adjust to this new no-man’s land. It felt like a mock-up town in a Disney theme park. We managed to find a pizza joint where we had some really good food!

At 5pm, we called a cab and it fetched us to the Ice Hotel. The 20min 12km ride to Jukkasjärvi cost us 550sek (about SGD106/way).

When we arrived at the Ice Hotel, I was a little disappointed by its entrance. I was expecting to see a grand ice palace like the one we saw in one of James Bond’s movies. The entrance was an odd looking arch with lots of wooden structures beside it. Where is all the ice and fanfare, I thought to myself? Having visited the gigantic ice and snow festival of Harbin, the Ice Hotel looked so small and tiny. In my honest opinion, it’s not worth the money or effort to fly all the way to Sweden to stay at the Ice Hotel; unless this is part of a bigger travel itinerary or you are already residing in Sweden or the nearby countries. I feel the underwater hotel suite at Conrad Maldives is much more worthwhile, exotic, unique and spectacular!

The friendly artists and designers were still touching up the interiors when we walked into the Ice Hotel. Every year, The Ice Hotel interviewed and selected some of the world’s most original and unique designers (with the most refreshing ideas, no experience in ice needed) to design and build its suites. The hotel (celebrating its 24th year) was only 80% completed (all the ice here was harvested from the pure waters of the Torne River). We were still able to visit some of its “legendary rooms”. There were mainly 5-6 types of ice rooms – namely the snow room, ice suites, art suites, the northern light suites and the deluxesvites. The snow and ice suites looked very basic with one icy bed and 2 icy couches. We sat on the bed; it was smelly (stench from the thick animal fur) and hard. I didn’t find it comfortable or even romantic. To me, it was a fancy art gallery. Forget about the bathroom or toilet, there wasn’t any in these type of rooms (only the Deluxesvites come with personal sauna and toilet). Privacy was questionable too as I didn’t see any solid door. Only curtains (like the ones in dressing rooms). Maybe it wasn’t fully complete at the time of our visit, that was why it felt a little bare.

The art suites were much more impressive. Each room had its own unique theme and design. At the entrance of each room, there was an ice signage marking its creators and the title of their work. I spent a lot of time here photo-taking the well-sculptured interiors. Very impressive indeed.

We ended our tour at the world’s famous Absolut Ice Bar. The bar was brightly illuminated in blue hue. There was a big giant icy deep-sea “humpback anglerfish” at the side of the bar counter. The bar was big and can hold up to 50 people. Harshad and Tracy had their drinks from glasses made of ice. The bar was very quiet at the time we visited. There, we met our Singaporean travelers and exchanged tips on our previous Aurora Borealis encounters. On our way out of the Ice Hotel, we witnessed a small and quiet wedding ceremony at the lobby.

The next morning, we wanted to visit the world’s largest iron mine but it was closed on Sunday. It was daybreak and the town was eerily quiet. We went to the Kiruna Church where we met very friendly locals who offered us free hot tea and buns. They were so friendly that they allowed us to take photos of the church (something that I wasn’t allowed to do in Rome, England and Australia).

By 3pm, the sky set and it was dark again. We made our way to the train station. It will be another 18-hour train ride back to Stockholm where we take a one day break before we fly off to our next adventure.

Chasing Aurora Borealis – Part 2 – Abisko

We took an 18-hour train from Stockholm to Abisko (1,329km). It sounded like a long ride but time flew surprisingly fast on the train. We ate, slept and even took a hot shower in the train. The Swedish train is very well-heated, clean and comfortable. (We were walking around the train in our summer tees and pants!) Despite its small and narrow sleeping compartments, the train offers clean bed sheets, pillows, drinking water and shower towels for the travelers. I am amazed by the quality of the public shower room. It was so clean, warm and spacious. Imagine having a nice hot shower inside a moving train heading cold icy Artic Circle!

On our way to Abisko, we saw the longest and most surreal dawn/dusk outside our windows. The rising sun illuminated the sky pinkish peach and set in deep twilight blue. There wasn’t any afternoon sun. Just dawn and dusk. It was magical.

There were 2 Abisko train stations and we alighted at the wrong one. We didn’t realize that until we called our hostel. Harshad and I were walking around the station to search for our cabin. It was freezing cold and there was no taxi or bus to bring us to our hostel. We were given 2 options by the hostel: Walk 2km in the freezing thick snow or wait another 3 hours for the next train. After assessing our current situation, we decided to wait for the next ride.

One thing I have learned from this trip – Never travel with trolleys to snow country. Dragging those wheel-trolleys across thick snowy path can be a teething back-breaking and frustrating experience. Never underestimate even the shortest distance on the snow. The distance between the train station to our cabin was only 500m. By the time I arrived at our cabin, I was panting and had exhausted half of the day’s energy.

We had a very big, double-storey mountain cabin by the Abisko National Park with unblocked view, facing the Baltic Sea and the mountains. Unfortunately, it was very cloudy on our first night and we couldn’t see any star. We unpacked our stuffs and Felicia cooked us a very sumptuous dinner (using our own electric hot pots and food we bought earlier at Stockholm).

The next morning, we decided to make full use of the short daylight to explore the National Park. The snow here was powdery soft and thick! While hiking along the snowy canyons at the bottom of the mountain, we found ourselves stuck in the thick snow. At one spot, the snow was a meter deep and I was struggling to get my feet out. It was comical to see us moving like this. And certainly, we couldn’t wander far. Walking in such condition drained our energy faster than we thought.

The frozen river and waterfall were spectacular. On our way around the canyons, we saw a group of people climbing the frozen waterfall. I wanted to try that but it was fully booked out.

We saw a lot of animal footprints on the snow. We couldn’t make up what were those. It could be the track of some of the wild animals that live in the National Park; the reindeers, dogs, wolves or brown bears.

Later in the evening, we took a 12km dogsled ride across the National Park. It was another amazing “first-in-life” experience! We got to harness the dogs to the sled! It was a funny sight to see how Harshad and Tracy struggled to get the dogs to its position. (Apparently, the dogs only understand Swedish and that’s why they couldn’t understand what Tracy and Harshad were saying!)

During park mode, the dogs were extremely noisy (like a sport car engine). Once the sled took off, these dogs went silent and ran amazingly strong and fast! We were travelling along the narrow and winding forest trails at a pretty decent speed of 25km/hour. Our driver was yelling the “go, stop, left, right” commands in Swedish to the lead dogs. The entire dog-sledding trip took 2 hours with a 20min coffee/campfire break in a tent. This was one exhilarating ride! Simply unforgettable!